The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Hiroshima Anniversary

Is it just a tragic coincidence that an atomic bomb was used against innocent civilians for the very first time in human history on the day of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 1945?

There have been a lot of comments on this. But, most of them simply compare the bright light of Jesus’ transfiguration to the blast of uranium-235 atomic bomb in Hiroshima. To me, such a comparison does not draw a meaningful reflection.  Sometimes, this kind of comparison leads to see the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as well as the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, as “divine punishment” against Japan for Japan’s military aggression. One example of this kind of problem is the May 21 2013 Korean newspaper column by Kim Jim, an editorial writer for the JoongAng  Ilbo, arguing that atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were divine retribution, as well as human retaliation for Japan’s war crime.

Clearly, Jim uses “God” to support his anti-Japan view, rather than applying a theological concept of God’s roles in dealing with evil actions committed by humans. There is always a danger in using “God” for our own personal political or ideological arguments. Such an application can offer even a “theological” and “moral” justification for slavery and colonization. For example, invasion and colonization of Americas by Christian Europeans since Christopher Columbus can be justified biblically as “divine will”, by citing and comparing to the Jewish conquest of Canaan. We have committed sins of using God and the Bible for justifying our own biased views, as to “privatize” God.

Comparing God and Devil – comparing Transfiguration and an atomic bomb – is prone to make not only futile arguments but also even blasphemy, by confusing Devil with God, as Kim Jim did.  As Japan’s military aggression was acts of Devil, so were American use of atomic bombs against civilians in Japan – whether the latter is considered as a revenge or not.  There is no reason that God would approve killing a greater number of Japanese civilians as a justifiable revenge for Japanese military’s killing of civilians in Asia in the past – though Jim’s argument may make it sound plausible. Such a retaliation cannot be justified by the international law, either. Taking God’s name into this sort of nonsense argument can be an act of Devil.

An act of Devil easily leads to another evil phenomena, as it only promotes hatred.

Viewing the atomic bombings in Japan as divine punishments is like seeing the M. 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeastern Japan in 2011 also as God’s punishment. There were some people, such as Glenn Beck, who wrote that God punished Japan with the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, so that Japan would repent its sins and convert to become a Christian nation.

This kind of thinking had its place during the time of the Old Testament, through which many people draw an impression of God as vengeful. Back then, people believed that misfortunes, including illnesses, disabilities, and disasters, were acts of God, either because of their sins or their ancestors’ sins. However, the teaching of Jesus denies this view of the Old Testament years. If not, what would be the reason for God to incarnate and send Jesus as the Messiah and the Christ? What would be the reason for Jesus’ to die on the Cross, to fulfill the Isaiah’s prophesy (Isaiah 52-53)? Would the redemption by Christ a fiction, then?

When a disciple of Jesus saw a man who was born blind, he asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"(John 9:2) , assuming that the blindness was due to sins. To this, Jesus replied, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him”(John 9:3).  

With this teaching of Jesus, concluding the atomic bombs as divine punishments does not bode well with the way God is to us through Jesus, the Christ. Based on Jesus’ teaching about infirmity and calamity, our focus should be on how we can discern the works of God amidst struggles and suffering, as indicated in John 9:3.

Even if the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not believed to be God’s retributions, the hellishness that these Japanese cities had to endure may make us wonder if God was absent from – or if God abandoned people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in desolation. It is like how the dying of Jesus on the Cross was viewed at first – as if God forsook him.

But, was God really absent? Did God really abandon? 

Let’s ponder these words of Jesus, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtha – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). These are words Jesus spoke as he was dying on the Cross. In fact, it is understood that Jesus quoted the words from Psalm 22:1, David’s intense prayer of anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”

Though the above-quoted Jesus’ words on the Cross, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, give an impression that even Jesus had felt abandoned by the Father, feeling intensifying desolation.

We may think that God had abandoned Jesus at that moment on the Cross. Jesus appeared very passive, like a lamb on his way to be slaughtered. But, it is a kind of interpretation that our weak faith, plagued with doubt of God’s salvific power makes.

Jesus had to die with such a passive and helpless impression, as if being abandoned by his Father in heaven - being mocked and jeered, because it was prophesized in the Book of Isaiah, 52-53. And, it was to fulfill this “suffering Messiah” prophecy. Additionally, by citing Psalm 22:1, these words of Jesus on the Cross are to reflect the very agony of humanity and how we often respond to. The humanness of Jesus became a projection of this darkest aspect of human experiences, collectively and psychoanalytically speaking. 

It is not necessarily to say that God, as the Father in heaven, abandoned His beloved Son, Jesus, while he was suffering – while he was fulfilling the salvific prophecy of Isaiah 52-53. In fact, God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day from his death, as to fulfil Jesus’ own prophetic words in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”, as the temple to be destroyed was mean to be the old corrupted humanity plagued by sins projected to the flesh of Jesus that died on the Cross, while the newly raised temple was a metaphor of the new clean human hearts symbolized with the resurrected body of Jesus.

To those who believe, there is always what ordinary human psychology cannot understand. In the secular psychological paradigm, experiencing hellish realities, like the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, invoking Armageddon, sinks our spirit into despair. But, our faith – faith in God, who raised Jesus from the dead, whose judgements are followed by salvific reconstructions, there is always hope that guides us through the darkest hours of sufferings, even experiencing despair.

The faith will not let us sink in despair irreversibly.  And, through the eyes of faith in God, rather than not using “God” for our own ego-centered views, the horrific experience of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we can certainly realize that God did not abandon. In fact, God was at work through the hands of those who survived, helping each other and already rebuilding the destroyed cities. We find God at work through works of love carried out by many good people to take care of the wounded and to bury the dead, in spite of their own sufferings and struggles. We find God at work in the resilient spirit exhibited by them in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima and Nagasaki today make good testimony to this truth, too.

In the scorched ashen lands of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those who survived immediately began their acts of charity.

One of such people was Fr. Pedro Arrupe, a Spanish Jesuit priest, who was teaching Japanese Jesuit novitiates in Hiroshima, when a uranium bomb was dropped there. Because he also studied medicine before he entered the Jesuits, Fr. Arrupe immediately stepped up in providing not only psychological, and spiritual care, as a priest, but also medical care to atomic bomb victims, who wondered around like sheep without a shepherd in agony. He also turned his Jesuit facility for the novitiates into a make-shift field hospital, though the building was damaged by the bombing. Though damaged by the atomic bomb, the Jesuit facility that Fr. Arrupe managed, became a good example of what Pope Francis called the Church to be, “field hospital”, embodying the divine mercy.

This act of love by Fr. Arrupe S.J. in the atomic bomb hell in Hiroshima reminds that God was present, manifesting compassion of him and many other people, who selflessly helped the wounded and the dead – practicing the works of mercy.

It is important that we rather focus on God’s presence in response to calamities and infirmities in our lives, rather than seeing them as God’s punishments or wondering if God abandon.

……

There is a subconscious psychological underlining to the mentality that tends to view tragedies, such as atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as divine retributions. The psychological issues here is insecurity. And, this psychological problem of insecurity manifests in our behavioral tendencies for clinging – or as Buddhism teaching calls it, attachment.

A human problem with insecurity and behavioral problem to be obsessed with a sense of security is what is commonly discerned from the scripture readings for the feast of the Transfiguration and the tragedies of Hiroshima.

In the Gospel reading (Matthew 17:1-9), Peter’s initial reaction to the Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mt. Tabor was to settle in the glorious light that Jesus body illuminates. Psychologically, what was behind this Peter’s reaction was subconscious insecurity, manifesting in Peter’s tendency to form attachment. So, Peter suggested to set up tents on this place of glorious illumination.

But, Peter’s insecurity manifestation in his suggestion to “settle in” the glorious illumination was immediately snapped by God’s voice, now frightening him. Then, Jesus said, “Rise, and do not be afraid”(Matthew 17:7). 

On the feast of this event, described in this Gospel story, in 1945, a uranium bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, during busy morning commute rush hours – at 8:15 am. The Devil behind the bombing knew that’s when many people are out – thus, the bombing can kill and affect the most possible people. And, it did with bright light with intense heat and winds, along with radiation, followed by radioactive fallouts.  Its deadly effects continue even today – even it has been 69 years.

What was behind this deadly weapon to be dropped in Hiroshima?

Many people still believe that it was to end the war against Japan faster, saving lives that would be lost otherwise – if the war had further prolonged. But, the one who reasoned this to justify the use of the atomic bomb knew that Emperor of Japan was ready to end the war and find a way to reconcile with the United States as early as July 1945.  But, Devil made the United States to justify the use of this evil weapon, rather than approaching Japan for negotiations.

So, what kept the United States from seeking alternative options but prompted to cling to the option of using the bomb, in spite of knowing of Japan’s openness to negotiate to end the war?

Behind the popular justification to end the war and the utilitarianism reason,  arguing to saving  more lives by using the bomb than not using it (at the expenses of people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) was the Untied States desire for hegemonic security as the Cold War was already brewing.  There was a sense of insecurity in the Untied States, driving this already powerful nation to become even more powerful, fearing its rival, the Soviet Union to become the No. 1 world power. To prevent the Soviet Union from becoming the world’s No.1 powerhouse, the Untied States felt that they had to use the atomic bomb. For this, Japan’s non-surrender status became a convenient justification.

See what can fear drive us?

When we are insecure inside, we want to cling to a glorious condition, as Peter did.  With insecurity, we also become obsessed with a thought of dominating and keeping the hegemony, in order to feel “secure”, as the Untied States felt so, when it used atomic bombs in August 1945, to deter the Soviet Union from becoming threatening.

This is not to compare Peter in reaction to Jesus’ Transfiguration and the Untied States dropping a uranium bomb in Hiroshima.  But, it is to see how our insecurity can affect us.

Insecurity in us can make us cling to a great illumination, such as the divine light Jesus was in. But, it can also make us a great blast.  Thought the blast may come with an appearance to evoke a divine light, as some people who cannot understand the aforementioned teaching of Jesus tend to see the blast as an act of God.  But, the blast made out of our insecurity is not an act of God, as God is not insecure. It was Devil that thrives on our insecurity – making us cling to a sense of false security, the hegemony in the world or even the divine light of the Transfiguration. 

As St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, the Transfiguration was meant to be transient. Thus, it was not an object of our sense of security.  Nuclear weapons are not objects of our security, either.  

Has the United States become a more secure nation as a result of dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki – besides Japan is no longer its threat? Have the use of the atomic bombs against Japan helped the United States attain true sense of security?

In pondering this question, we can take a lesson from Peter’s insecurity-driven behavioral reaction in reaction to the Transfiguration and its consequence.

Additionally, the first reading for this feast, Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14,  reminds us that Devil can make himself look like God in his manifestation.

The narratives from the Book of Daniel Chapter 7 describes four beasts appeared in Daniel’s dream.  These are symbolic figures of the Babylonian Empire (the first beast like a lion), the Persian Empire (the second beast like a bear), the Greek Empire (the third beast like a leopard), and the Roman Empire (the fourth beast with large iron teeth and ten horns).   These empires were the world powers that brought afflictions to the Jews.  But, the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, destroyed the biblical Jewish nation for good in 70 A.D.  The first reading for this feast day of the Transfiguration describes this powerful enemy world power to the Jews.

In the narrative, the beast, which is the Roman Empire, the most powerful symbol to God’s people, in Daniel’s dream, is described to wear clothing as white as snow, with the throne and wheels of fire (Daniel 7:9).   Given that Jesus’ cloth became white as light upon his Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2), the fourth beast, which is Devil in the form of the Roman Empire, also makes an appearance similar to a divine manifestation as the illumination of Jesus in the Transfiguration.

The Devil behind the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki certainly made appearances that evoke divine light for their extraordinary brightness.  But, the brightness from the light was evil and killed people. On the contrary, the divine brightness transform us with its logos.  In the glorious bright light of the Transfiguration, God spoke directly to tell His love, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him”(Matthew 17:5). 

Does the bright light comes with love or with deaths? This is a litmus test to see if the light is of God or Devil. This test is critically necessary, as Devil can easily make himself appear divine, as the first reading from Daniel 7:9, 10, 13-14 can teach us.

Let us not be fooled by Devil. Also, let us fight insecurity inside us, as it is our true enemy.

So, was it a coincidence that an atomic bomb was dropped against humans for the first time in history on the feast day of the Transfiguration in 1945, in Hiroshima?  If we discern a lesson from the meaning of the Transfiguration and history in light of the psychology of insecurity, we cannot say it was a mere coincidence.